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December 6, 2007
Contact: Josh Golin (617.278.4172;
jgolin@jbcc.harvard.edu)
For
Immediate Release
CCFC
Statement on the FTC’s Failure to Take Enforceable Action
Against
Baby Einstein and
Brainy Baby for
False and Deceptive Marketing
CCFC is pleased that our Federal Trade
Commission complaint caused
Baby Einstein and
Brainy Baby to make
substantive changes to the marketing on their websites. Parents
who visit these sites will no longer be subjected to some of
these companies’ most deceptive claims about the educational
benefits of their videos.
Nevertheless, we are deeply troubled by the
FTC’s decision not to take enforceable action against either
company. This decision tells
companies that it is acceptable to lie to parents; and if you
get caught you can change your claims with no consequences for
years of deception.
Baby
Einstein and
Brainy Baby continue to profit from building their
brands on years of false and deceptive marketing that their
videos are beneficial for babies. The number one reason parents
allow babies to watch DVDs is the mistaken belief that they are
educational and/or good for brain development. Given that, the
FTC should have at least compelled both companies to publicly
acknowledge that there is no substantiation for claims that
these videos have educational or developmental benefits.
We are no way convinced that either company
is committed to ending their deceptive marketing practices. Some
of the false claims that have been removed from the companies’
websites continue to appear as product descriptions on the
websites of major retailers such as Amazon.com.* While
Brainy Baby dropped
the tagline “a little genius in the making,” its new one -
“learning for a lifetime” - is also misleading. The names
Baby Einstein and
Brainy Baby continue
to send a message that these products are educational.
The FTC’s response to CCFC is available at
http://commercialfreechildhood.org/actions/lettertoccfc.pdf.
The FTC’s response to
Baby Einstein is
available at
http://commercialfreechildhood.org/actions/babyeinstein.pdf.
The FTC’s response to
Brainy Baby is
available at
http://commercialfreechildhood.org/actions/brainybaby.pdf.
CCFC’s original complaint against
Brainy Baby and
Baby Einstein is
available at
http://www.commercialfreechildhood.org/babyvideos/ftccomplaint.htm.
*For example,
Brainy Baby no
longer claims on its website that its
Peek-A-Boo is a
“brain stimulating video [that] helps nurture such important
skills as object permanence, communication skills, cause and
effect, language development and many others.” But this claim
is still listed in the product description at Amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/Brainy-Baby-Peek-Boo/dp/B0001NXNRI.
(Accessed December 6, 2007).
Similarly, while
Baby Einstein no
longer claims on its own website that
Baby Wordsworth
“will foster the development of your toddler’s speech and
language skills,” this
claim is still found at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Baby-Einstein-Wordsworth-First-Around/dp/B0007Z9QYE.
(Accessed December 7, 2007).
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